Big Business Bosses Being Used - Says Cable

Vince Cable speaking in today's Guardian says that businessmen on inflated salaries lecturing the rest of Britain on how to run the country are "utterly nauseating" and "being used" by the Conservative party. This is of course in response to 80 of them signing the Conservative co-ordinated letter on the single issue of National Insurance contributions. As Vince says:

"I just find it utterly nauseating all these chairmen and chief executives of FTSE companies being paid 100 times the pay of their average employees lecturing us on how we should run the country. I find it barefaced cheek."

As is pointed out the fact that Cameron is also asking that senior managers in the public sector should not get paid more that 20 times that of the lowest paid in their organisation would mean that vast majority, if not all, of those 80 signatories would have to take a pay cut to meet such a cap*. Aiden Harvey of Tullow Oil would be top of the heap having to cut his pay by £27m.

Of course there is no mention of the private sector having to following the same restraints as the public sector, how else would Dave get them onside. But as Vince points out this is a dangerous game for a politician who would be Prime Minister to play: We've been there before and being at the behest of business and the city got us into the mess we are in now:

"Brown, having kowtowed to the City for the best part of a decade, and having tried to co-opt captains of industry into the big tent, is in a very weak position."

Vince Cable also says that in the first week of the campaign the Labservatives have not answered the important question of how they will cut the structural deficit the country faces. In other words they are still avoiding that question asked on the Chancellor's debate that only Vince answered with what and how, rather than the when of Darling Osborne. As he points out for six months before the election the Tories were saying the deficit was the number one concern.:

"[They said] we are going to have a collapse of sterling, lack of confidence, bond markets evaporating, but then in the first week of the election, instead of focusing on the deficit, they say waste and efficiency are going to be dealing with the deficit, so completely evading the main issue.

"I am all in favour of getting rid of waste and inefficiency, but what is now being shown by people looking at critically is that it is not an easy route. It is in fact cuts by any other name".

He has pointed out that the Lib Dems have highlighted £10bn above the Government plans that will halve the deficit by 2013-14. That is dealing with the macro-economics of the situation rather than Osborne fiddling about with the micro-economics to suit his parties suitors, as well as the Osborne and Cameron estates.

* The 10 FTSE 100 bosses who signed definitely all fail the public sector cap test.